Excel 2010 Bible

Chapter 2: Entering and Editing Worksheet Data

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FIGURE 2.2

The Formula bar, expanded in height to show more information in the cell.

Entering Dates and Times into Your Worksheets ................................................................

Excel treats dates and times as special types of numeric values. Typically, these values are format-

ted so that they appear as dates or times because we humans find it far easier to understand these

values when they appear in the correct format. If you work with dates and times, you need to

understand Excel’s date and time system.

Entering date values ..................................................................................................

Excel handles dates by using a serial number system. The earliest date that Excel understands is

January 1, 1900. This date has a serial number of 1. January 2, 1900, has a serial number of 2, and

so on. This system makes it easy to deal with dates in formulas. For example, you can enter a for-

mula to calculate the number of days between two dates.